Posted on 04/18/2020 2:14:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The legend says that vanilla was introduced to Europe by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who had seen the Aztec Emperor Montezuma drink his xocolatl (sort of a chocolate drink) with a bit of vanilla. The Mesoamerican flavoring gained massively in popularity in the 19th century, when botanists found a way to hand-pollinate it, which allowed for it to be grown around the world.
Today, the vast majority of vanilla (some 60%-80%) comes from the African island of Madagascar, and it is the second most expensive spice (only behind saffron) in the world, mostly because it’s difficult to produce. However, at the moment there is a real shortage of natural vanilla, as the vanilla bean cannot meet the demand due to challenging growing conditions, labor exploitation, and deforestation in Madagascar.
Dr. Ian Klein claims he can solve that by producing natural vanilla from the abundant corn fiber.
The 2015 Under 30 honoree and a PhD in Chemistry from Purdue University, has been working on this issue for several years as a Chief Technology Officer of Santa Barbara-based Spero Renewables. The company currently has two pending patents on natural vanilla production (one of which is late stage), and is in the process of raising a $1.5 million seed round which they hope to close in the next several months.
“Consumers today are demanding natural and sustainable products, especially in the food industry where they want ingredients that they know rather than artificial flavorings,” Klein says.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Vanilla and chocolate addict here. You’re full of something other than vanilla :) Synthetic vanilla works pretty well in everything except coffee, and it is not clear if this is due to ethanol in the real deal or not. Experiments every morning this coming week :)
I buy real vanilla and fake. I can’t tell the difference, but I’m sure I could if I got a hold of vanilla beans.
How do you make rose water?
I also make a semi-distilled version. It’s a LOT more work, but a better product.
actually, fermenting ferulic acid to obtain vanillin has been around for years, regardless of the source of the ferulic acid ... however, such fermentation has been feasible only with genetically modified organisms ... and of course the result is still vanillin, NOT vanilla extract, which contains hundreds of other compounds besides vanillin when made from vanilla beans ...
not sure vanillin obtained by fermentation with a genetically modified organism is any more desirable than vanillin synthesized in any other fashion ...
nothing those chem students are doing appears to be new, so it makes me wonder if they’re simply flim-flamming their “investors” ...
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-problem-with-vanilla/
We bought a large bottle of real Mexican vanilla at the Mexican market in San Antonio a few years ago. It’s enough to last us probably the rest of our lives.
Thanks!
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